| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A Man of Business by Honore de Balzac: think that you know a thing or two," he continued, glancing round at
Nathan, Bixiou, La Palferine, and Lousteau, "but the king of the
ground is a certain Count, now busy ranging himself. In his time, he
was supposed to be the cleverest, adroitest, canniest, boldest,
stoutest, most subtle and experienced of all the pirates, who,
equipped with fine manners, yellow kid gloves, and cabs, have ever
sailed or ever will sail upon the stormy seas of Paris. He fears
neither God nor man. He applies in private life the principles that
guide the English Cabinet. Up to the time of his marriage, his life
was one continual war, like--Lousteau's, for instance. I was, and am
still his solicitor."
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Scarecrow of Oz by L. Frank Baum: because the sailor's form completely filled the hole.
"Why, we've come to the end of our travels, I guess,"
he replied.
"Is the hole blocked?" inquired the Ork.
"No; it's wuss nor that," replied Cap'n Bill sadly.
"I'm on the edge of a precipice. Wait a minute an' I'll
move along and let you see for yourselves. Be careful,
Trot, not to fall."
Then he crept forward a little and moved to one side,
holding the candle so that the girl could see to follow
him. The Ork came next and now all three knelt on a
The Scarecrow of Oz |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Enoch Arden, &c. by Alfred Tennyson: Across the boundless east we drove,
Where those long swells of breaker sweep
The nutmeg rocks and isles clove.
VI.
By peaks that flamed, or, all in shade,
Gloom'd the low coast and quivering brine
With ashy rains, that spreading made
Fantastic plume or sable pine;
By sands and steaming flats, and floods
Of mighty mouth, we scudded fast,
And hills and scarlet-mingled woods
|
The fourth excerpt represents the element of Earth. It speaks of physical influences and the impact of the unseen on the visible world, and is drawn from In Darkest England and The Way Out by General William Booth: profit by better conditions if they could only come to possess them.
According to the most reliable information there are already sadly too
many of the same classes we want to help in countries supposed to be
the paradise of the working-man.
What could be done with a people whose first enquiry on reaching
a foreign land would be for a whisky shop, and who were utterly
ignorant of those forms of labour and habits of industry absolutely
indispensable to the earning of a subsistence amid the hardships of an
Emigrant's life? Such would naturally shrink from the self-denial the
new circumstances inevitably called for, and rather than suffer the
inconveniences connected with a settler's life, would probably sink
In Darkest England and The Way Out |
